Shopper stunned to discover grocery store’s ‘useless’ packaging method: ‘[A] waste of plastic’

It’s rare to find someone who particularly enjoys going to the grocery store — from the prices to the crowds, they’re not where you typically want to spend your Saturday afternoon.

Even more obnoxious is the tendency for stores to over-package their items — especially the ones that didn’t need to be packaged in the first place.

One Redditor came across a particularly over-the-top example and posted it to the thread r/mildlyinfuriating.

The photos showed rows of packages, each with two small peppers inside. Each of the packages could have fit three to four times the number of peppers they had in them.

“[A] waste of plastic,” the irritated Redditor wrote in the caption.

This is becoming an increasingly common trend seemingly everywhere you turn — from grocery stores to online shopping. To be fair, some establishments are making an active effort to reduce waste, but they sometimes miss the mark — like the cafe that implemented paper straws but wrapped them in plastic.

This doesn’t mean we’re doomed to a world of plastic, though — there are plenty of ways to avoid excess packaging. The big hurdle is convincing large corporations to get on board, and it’ll be worth it when we do.

Excess packaging is not only an extra hassle for you to deal with, but it doesn’t always do much, if anything, to protect the goods inside. For example, if online orders are sent in the correct size box, they won’t need extra padding to keep them from moving around in the box.

Produce doesn’t typically need any packaging — there are plenty of ways to ensure that it’s sanitized before you eat it, like DIY produce wash.

Plus, there’s already enough plastic waste in our landfills. There were 267 million tons of plastic waste created in 2016 alone, and plastic can take hundreds of years to break down — so there’s no need to add to that by packaging produce that doesn’t need it.

Some Reddit users were shocked at the sight — “Holy crap,” one wrote.

Others were big supporters of getting rid of unnecessary wrappings, “It’s REDUCE, reuse, recycle,” they reminded Redditors.

Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.